


A Really, Really Bad Idea

by agalaxywithinyou



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Awkwardness, Fluff, M/M, Mutual Pining, just sum good homegrown fluff with awkwardness and physical contact, they/them pronouns for Pidge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-10
Updated: 2017-01-10
Packaged: 2018-09-16 15:03:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9277247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/agalaxywithinyou/pseuds/agalaxywithinyou
Summary: Lance decides to back flip off a table. Everyone thinks that's a really bad idea. Guess what? It is.(Keith might argue with that, however)





	

**Author's Note:**

> i was a backup gifter for the voltron secret santa, and this is for Fluffy @fluffytheasianpanda!!! sorry this is so late, but i really hope you like this!! i had a lot of fun writing it and i'm always a hoe for some Good and Pure klance pining - so i hope you are too! happy holidays and i hope 2017 has been lit for you so far xx
> 
> (based on this prompt:["I twisted my ankle and you’re the only one here strong enough to carry me to the nurse’s office but we’re both really awkward"](http://barbelzoa.tumblr.com/post/101702088065/shitty-high-school-aus-tho-cramming-until-3-in))

Thinking back on it, Keith probably should have tried to stop Lance from doing the stupid thing. Because it had been a very stupid thing. And even though everyone had seen Lance do the stupid thing a while back, and they knew he might actually be able to pull it off without hurting himself, they still _definitely_ shouldn’t have let him do it.

Because really – was back flipping off their lunch table really such a great idea? _Especially_ when Lance was concerned?

It was lunch break and they were all seated round their usual spot: a table just close enough to the blocks that they didn’t have to run to class, but far away enough that teachers didn’t come investigating when they did something loud and/or stupid. Which is exactly what was about to happen. Although this time, everyone was actually trying to dissuade the person in question from doing it.

Well, almost everyone.

“I’m gonna film it,” grinned Pidge, “and if you stack it, I’m putting it on Youtube.”

Lance waved an airy hand, getting out of his seat and doing a set of exaggerated stretches. Keith tried not to stare too hard at the bit of skin that appeared when his shirt lifted up. “Well, prepare to be disappointed. I was top of my gymnastics class.”

“Yeah,” said Hunk, ever the voice of reason, “in eighth grade.”

At that everyone snickered, but Lance seemed unperturbed. “Hunk, my pal, my buddy, I’ll be fine. You know I’m good.”

Keith raised a questioning eyebrow at Hunk, and the larger boy nodded reluctantly with a defeated sigh. “Yeah, Lance _was_ pretty good.”

Lance’s grin grew brighter at that, apparently deciding to ignore the emphasised use of past tense, and he jumped up onto the table with ease. Allura and Coran were out at a student council meeting so he wasn’t standing on top of anyone, but Shiro and Hunk still shuffled away a bit so that they wouldn’t get kicked in the face.

“Lance,” said Shiro, craning his neck to look up at him, and Keith covered his smile behind his hand because he was using _the Dad Voice_. “I don’t think this is a good idea. Not that I don’t believe in you, but you could hurt yourself.”

Lance pressed his hands to heart. “Guys, did you hear that? Shiro _believes_ in me, but none of you. You’re all traitors and bad friends.”

“And you’re an idiot,” Keith deadpanned. “Nothing new here.”

“I’m ignoring all of you, but especially Keith. He’s more of an idiot and also an asshole.”

“I’m not the one about to break my neck trying to do a backflip.”

Lance grinned and positioned himself on the edge of the table. “I know you’re worried about me, Keith, but I’ll be fine.”

“I am not,” Keith frowned. Shiro snorted a laugh and he punched him in the arm.

“Lance,” said Hunk with a resigned look on his face, obviously knowing that his friend couldn’t be stopped but willing to try one last time, “I really don’t think this is a good –”

But that was, of course, the exact moment Lance decided to throw himself off the table into a shockingly perfect back flip. Keith watched, wide eyed, as his lean body tucked into a tight ball, his shirt riding up to show a strip of tanned skin, smug grin still plastered on his face as he spun in the air and landed on the ground.

Keith was about to exclaim his shock at the idiot actually pulling it off, but a split second later – because of course – Lance was shouting in pain and stumbling backwards. He slammed into the concrete with a sickening thud, and then everyone was on their feet and rushing towards him.

Keith dropped to his knees beside him, hands on his chest as he helplessly scanned him for injuries. “Lance, what the hell! Are you okay?”

Hunk was on the other side, a little more calm, but presumably only because he’d seen this happen before. “Your ankle again?”

Lance’s eyes were screwed shut, biting his bottom lip in an apparent effort to ignore the pain, but he blinked them open and groaned. “Yeah, just twisted it, I think. I’m fine.”

“You don’t really look fine,” said Shiro. “You need to go to the nurse’s office.”

“But _dad_ –”

Shiro laughed and cut him short. “Seriously, Lance.”

Lance pouted at him but, with the help of Keith and Hunk, managed to get into a sitting position, taking care not to jostle his injured ankle. He breathed heavily through his nose for a few moments, as if trying to get the pain under control, before blinking up at them. “So, can someone, like… help me up there? I can’t hop the entire way.”

The bell rang and loud chatter filled the air as everyone started making their way to class. Hunk smiled apologetically. “Sorry man, I’ve got a test next period. Can’t miss it.” He turned to Keith and nodded slightly, that smile turning equal parts mischievous and encouraging. “Hey, Keith, you’ve got a free, right?”

Keith sent him a glare that he hoped Lance wouldn’t notice, and avoided the question. “Shiro, can’t you carry him there? You’re strong.”

His adoptive brother set him with a deadpan glare, before very pointedly looking down at his prosthetic arm. “ _Keith_.”

“Fine! Fine. Okay. Fine.” But before leaning over to help Lance up, he looked at Pidge pleadingly, who immediately burst into hysterical laughter.

“Oh my god, Keith, really?” they wheezed, wiping away tears from under their oversized glasses. “I’m actually half your size.”

Lance looked offended. “You really don’t wanna help me that bad?”

Keith blinked for a moment, trying to stutter out a reply while willing his cheeks to not be as red as they felt.

_No, Lance, I just don’t think I can handle that much physical contact with you without actually dying._

Shiro, Hunk and Pidge all gave him a smug and knowing look, and he fixed them all with a scowl that could have killed.

Hunk shouldered his backpack and shot Lance an apologetic look.  “Sorry, bro. But text the group chat later, yeah? Let us know that everything’s okay.”

“Hope it’s not too bad, Lance,” said Shiro with a worried frown.

Pidge, on the other hand, just grinned and waved their phone in Lance’s face. “Guess who’s gonna become a viral sensation?”

“Pidge!” he shouted, making as if to stand up but immediately hissing in pain. “Pidge, don’t you dare!”

But the others were already making their way to class, and Keith could see Pidge’s shoulders shaking with laughter as they typed furiously on their phone. Lance fell back onto the concrete and groaned.

“Are you, uh…” Keith scratched the back of his neck, “are you okay?”

Lance looked up at him and smiled humourlessly. “Peachy. Just peachy. Can you, uh… can you help me up?”

Keith hesitated a brief moment before pulling one of Lance’s arms across his shoulders, gripping his side and pulling him to his feet. Lance made a short noise of discomfort but settled against him heavily, injured foot raised off the ground and face etched with a seemingly permanent wince. Keith started them slowly in the direction of the nurse’s office (which was, of course, on the other side of the school), but after a few moments of silence, couldn’t resist making a snarky comment. “I told you it was a stupid idea.”

Lance turned to look at him, and Keith was suddenly regretting opening his mouth because Lance’s face was insanely close to his. Dark brown eyes, gold flecks appearing in the sunlight. Flawless brown skin. A jawline that could cut glass. Lips…. oh god, lips that were way too close, holy shit, because Keith could have moved forward mere inches and then –

“I did a perfect back flip, though!” Lance seemed oblivious to his wide eyed staring. “My landing was just a little off. Admit it, it looked cool.”

“It did look cool,” murmured Keith without thinking, and the triumphant grin that split Lance’s face was laughably wide.

“I knew it!” he crowed, managing to look incredibly happy even though his ankle was sprained and they were hobbling along very slowly. “Keith Kogane likes me and thinks I’m cool! Spread the word!”

Keith sputtered at the first statement and felt his cheeks warming, but managed to pull up his blasé exterior just as Lance grinned across at him mischievously. “I never said that _you_ were cool, dumbass. Just that the backflip looked cool. Until you stacked it.”

“I didn’t stack it,” Lance sniffed. “I just stumbled a little bit on the landing and also bruised my ankle slightly.”

Keith came to a stop and raised an eyebrow. “So… do you wanna head up to the nurse yourself? Sounds like you should be able to walk by yourself. That’s fine by me. I’ll just get going.”

He made as if to remove himself from Lance’s surprisingly tight grip, but Lance yelped and clung on tighter. “Keith! I don’t wanna trip over and die!”

Keith laughed, loud and unabashed, finding the sudden change of attitude hilarious. But if he noticed Lance staring, a dopey grin on his face and cheeks dusted with pink, he didn’t say anything. Just wiped tears of laughter from his eyes and readjusted his arm around Lance. “Fine, fine. Even though that sounds pretty entertaining.”

Lance poked out his tongue and pouted. “Ha ha. Laugh at your poor, frail, injured friend. That’s fine.”

Keith just rolled his eyes and they continued, the corridors empty but not quiet, muted chattering from classrooms audible as they walked past. Keith was rather proud of himself so far. He hadn’t died or spontaneously combusted, or even said anything embarrassing. He just had to get Lance to the nurse, then he could go on ignoring this stupid crush and he’d never have to deal with his body pressed uncomfortably close again. He could simply continue making fun of Lance, and Lance could challenge him to stupid competitions, and they could pretend that they disliked each other. Easy.

“Uh, Keith?” Lance’s voice startled him from his thoughts. “Since when is the nurse’s office upstairs?”

Keith blinked and stared – _hard_ – at the flight of stairs before them. He’d sort of forgotten about that minor detail, and getting Lance up them was going to be slow and tedious. Unless he actually carried him up there. But that would be stupid, right?

_Right?_

Keith didn’t even give himself time to think, just shifted his stance, kept his arm around Lance’s shoulders and put the other behind his knees, and swept him up against his chest. Lance yelped in alarm and threw his arms around Keith’s neck, wide eyed and furiously blushing.

“Keith! Keith, I swear to god, if you drop me –”

But he just huffed a laugh and started up the stairs, finding Lance surprisingly light for how tall he was, and trying to ignore the fact that he had actually just done that. He was carrying Lance McClain bridal style. He was carrying Lance in his goddamn arms and Lance was blushing.

What the _fuck_.

“Am I, uh… am I not heavy?” Lance asked, still holding on insanely tight as if Keith were going to actually drop him.

“Not really.”

“Huh,” Lance muttered, turning his face away slightly, “I mean… wow, you’re, uh, you’re pretty strong. Do you work out? Lift weights? Wait…” His laugh was higher pitched than normal. “Yeah, you go to the gym. I forgot about that. Oops.”

They reached the top of the stairs, and Keith breathed a sigh of relief because the nurse’s office was within sight. Mostly because his cheeks were burning at Lance’s mostly mumbled speech, but also because his arms were starting to hurt. Not that he was going to admit either of those things.

They stopped in front of the door, and Lance knocked on it since Keith’s hands were – quite literally – full. It was opened by a kind looking older woman, who immediately raised an eyebrow at the sight before her.

“Uh,” Keith began, a little awkwardly, “he did something to his ankle and now he can’t walk on it.”

Lance chimed in. “And it really hurts. I think I sprained it.”

The nurse waved them in. “Sit down on the bed there, dear. I’ll get some ice.”

While she started bustling around and gathering what she needed, Keith set Lance carefully on the bed and stepped back to let her do her thing. He felt a lot colder without Lance pressed against him, and he pulled his jacket tighter round himself as the nurse gave rapid-fire instructions about how to reduce the swelling and what not. All Keith understood was that he had to rest, not put any pressure on it, and use ice.

“Thanks, ma’am,” said Lance. “Can you… maybe… get me a pass to go home early?”

She rolled her eyes but moved over to her desk, asked for both their names, and started scribbling on some bits of paper. “Your boyfriend better go, too. You shouldn’t be driving with that ankle.”

Keith felt like someone had punched him in the stomach. “Oh, we’re not –”

“Yeah, I’m not his –”

“No, ma’am, we’re just friends.”

“Yeah, not dating.”

Both of their faces were bright red, sputtered protests dying down as the nurse simply raised an eyebrow and handed them both their passes. “My mistake, boys. I’ll log your absence in the system. Go see a doctor if your ankle doesn’t get better within a few days.”

Lance smiled sheepishly and thanked her, and Keith got his arm underneath Lance and helped him out into the corridor. The door was closed after them and after a few moments of silence, they both started giggling quietly.

“Boyfriends, huh?” Lance grinned, and Keith mirrored his expression even though his chest hurt a bit with Lance framing it like an impossibility. A joke.

So he just shook his head, wide grin fading into a fond and gentle smile, and tried his hardest not to let his eyes dart down to Lance’s lips. “Yeah, imagine that.”

They started slowly down the hall, Lance leaning comfortably against Keith with his arm tight round his shoulders, and he spoke up after a few quiet moments. “Thanks for being my human crutch, dude. Hope I’m not being a pain.”

“It’s fine. We missed out on history, so I’m not complaining.” Lance huffed a laugh at that. “But was it worth it?”

“Hmm?”

“Nearly breaking your ankle.”

Lance laughed, and they stopped as they neared the top of the dreaded flight of stairs again. “Totally worth it. I mean, you’re carrying me around bridal style, so what’s there to complain about?”

Keith’s cheeks immediately flared red, which made Lance laugh, so to shut him up he scooped him up into his arms and started down the stairs.

“You’re insufferable, you know that?”

“I’ve been told that before.”

Keith sighed but couldn’t stop the small smile tugging on his lips. “You want me to drive you home?”

“Yeah, and, uh…” Lance trailed off, looking as if he were contemplating what he was about to say, his Adams apple bobbing as he swallowed. “Uh, if you want, you could stay for like… pizza and a movie? Only if you want, though, like I’m not guilt tripping you into anything because I can’t walk –”

Keith smiled and cut him short, trying to appear casual even though he thought his heart might beat out of his chest. “Yeah, that sounds great.”

Lance smiled across at him widely, and Keith could get lost in those eyes, but then his smile was dropping and he was narrowing his eyes. “You don’t get to pick the movie, though.”

“What? Why not?”

“Last time you made me watch three cryptid documentaries.”

“Yeah, well, the time before that you made me watch _all_ the Star Wars prequels.”

Lance shot him a glare, and as he delved into a rant about why the prequels were really bad but absolutely necessary to watch, Keith laughed and rolled his eyes – but found a pleasant feeling settling in his chest. Something warm, and fond, and okay, _maybe_ it had something to do with Lance and his crush. Just maybe.

Because even though Lance was an idiot, and he came up with some truly stupid ideas – like back flipping off tables, and starting fights with people twice his size who so much as looked at his friends the wrong way, and binge watching entire seasons of shows the night before a big test – he was Keith’s idiot. And he wouldn’t have it any other way.

**Author's Note:**

> come find me on tumblr [here](http://omgklance.tumblr.com/)! i'm always available to scream about voltron or take fic requests :D


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